Innotech Solar AS to file for insolvency

Narvik / Halle / Cologne. Innotech Solar AS, Norway, has filed for insolvency on 24th March 2015 in Narvik, Norway. The German subsidiaries ITS Innotech Solar Module GmbH, ITS Halle Cell GmbH and Energiebau Solar Power GmbH, Cologne, have filed for insolvency at the local court of Halle resp. Cologne on 25th March. The Swedish module factory SweModule AB, had already filed for insolvency two weeks ago.

Mr Rüdiger Bauch from Schultze & Braun Halle/Leipzig has been appointed to preliminary insolvency administrator by the insolvency court of Halle for ITS Innotech Solar Module GmbH and ITS Halle Cell GmbH. He will monitor the opening procedure on behalf of the interest of the creditors, accompany the restructuring phase and supervise the economic situation of the company. The preliminary insolvency administrator for Energie Solar Power GmbH in Cologne has not yet been appointed.

“Despite having a unique, automated, proven, value creating cell optimisation process, excellent staff and supportive investors we have failed to achieve the necessary financial stability needed to weather the storms within the PV industry. The main reason for this failure is not the ITS business model, but the general uncertainty within the European PV market through sudden policy change and poor enforcement until very recently of the Minimum Price Undertaking agreed with the Chinese Government, combined at a seasonal time when demand was low”, said Jerry Stokes, CEO of Innotech Solar AS. “We confidently believe that leading solar cell companies will be very interested to gain access to our cell optimisation process and for the largest companies accessing this Intellectual Property and applying it within their own manufacturing lines can be extremely profitable”, he added.

Energiebau Solar Power GmbH joined the group only for 12 weeks. “We were pleased having found Innotech as investor in a difficult market situation. The change from a PV-wholesaler to a more focused distributor of core products already started to fructify. The combination of Innotech and Energiebau seemed to be perfect. At the end financing is the most important issue and we have to accept the reality. On all accounts many thanks to all the new colleagues we have found and for their great support”, says Michael Schäfer, Managing Director of Energiebau Solar Power GmbH.

The insolvency of the three German subsidiaries of the Innotech Solar Group affects a total of 120 employees. Their wages and salaries will be secured until the end of May by the German Insolvency fund (so called “Insolvenzgeld”).